Friendship between humans is common in movies and in real life, but a robot developing a personality and forming bonds with animals is not a story often told. The Wild Robot is a wonderful story of friendship and community, complete with stunning animations and humor. The movie takes place on an uninhabited island, where a service robot named Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), goes on an adventure, exploring the island ecosystem by learning more about herself and forming bonds with the animals.
This film was adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name by Peter Brown, a favorite among middle grade audiences. The Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders, was released in theaters on September 27, 2024.
The movie follows Roz’s experiences as she learns to adapt to her new surroundings and forms strong friendships with the animals on the island. Roz becomes a mother figure to an orphaned gosling named Brightbill (Kit Connor) and a friend to the mischievous fox Fink (Pedro Pascal).
The movie starts off with beautiful overhead shots of an island and switches to Roz waking up to find that she is washed up on the shore of the island right after a storm. Once activated, Roz begins to explore the island and builds a reputation with the other animals, which is at first negative as her appearance and demeanor establish her as a monster to the animals.
Throughout the film, Roz changes from an unfeeling aid robot to a caring member of the ecosystem. She learns to speak the animals’ language and inspires kindness in them, telling them that they can look out for each other instead of only acting for themselves. During a harsh winter, Roz enables all of the animals to survive by bringing them together under one roof and convincing predators and prey alike that looking out for each other is the only way to live through the winter and to see the spring. In this way, she is able to come to better terms with the animals.
It was an amazing experience seeing this film on the big screen. The theater enhanced the beautiful animations and made it stand out, along with the well-written script and great pacing. It made me feel like I was on the island and seeing the events unfold.
One of the things I liked about the movie was the humor; it kept me laughing throughout. Much of the humor was somewhat dark; there was a funny conversation and argument within a family of opossums regarding death. There were other funny lines thrown in here and there which made for a good laugh, such as Roz asking the animals to rate her performance. I liked Vontra (Stephanie Hsu), the robot sent to retrieve Roz from the island, who appeared bubbly and cheerful and behaved in a sinister manner at the same time.
I also really enjoyed the visuals. The island was beautifully portrayed, and in one flashback at the beginning of the movie, the animations corresponded with the cover art of the novel The Wild Robot. I liked how so many different species were portrayed throughout the film and the animations made them look more majestic. The scenery was very colorful.
The underlying message was also very touching. Roz taught the animals that kindness is an important survival skill, and a great strength to lean on. She also emphasized that everyone is interdependent, be it a huge grizzly bear or a tiny crab. All predators and prey on the island had the common goal of survival, and Roz helped all of them to see past their differences and come to terms with each other to make it through the tough times.
However, there was one detail that I didn’t quite understand. At the beginning of the movie, Roz was said to have killed off Brightbill’s family, but it wasn’t clear how that happened and that moment seemed a little rushed and hard to comprehend. However, it was a very small detail, so I don’t believe that it will hinder anyone’s understanding of the film.
Overall, this film is a great pick for anyone who loves a feel-good, family sci-fi adventure. I encourage fans of the Transformers series or The Princess Bride to go and watch it on the big screen, as it is a lively film with just the right amount of action that will not fail to impress.
10/10
